Music from The Who, Santana, Jimi Hendrix, Marvin Gaye and more than 200 other artists make up the contents of a time capsule that is now sitting on the Moon inside the Odysseus space craft, which landed on it last Thursday, February 22nd.
Dallas Santana of Space Blue came up with the idea, saying, “This is music that stands the test of time.”
He adds that among the playlist of 25,000 songs, are those that focus on music from 1969 and the artists who performed at Woodstock, which took place a in August, a month after the U.S. landed on the Moon for the first time -- July 20th, 1969.
“We need peace on the Earth right now,” says Dallas. “We’ve brought to the moon the 'Summer of Love', the people and artists and messages that are needed on Earth right now.” (The 'Summer of Love' was in 1967.)
However, there is a bit of irony in the fact that many musicians from that era pressured the U.S. government to stop spending money on lunar landings in favor of dealing with problems here at home.
Other artists represented are Bob Marley, Elvis Presley, and Chuck Berry, along with photos from Woodstock and the album art for Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side of the Moon. And, the Jimi Hendrix recordings are unreleased, having been made prior to the formation of the Jimi Hendrix Experience in 1966.